Friday’s game
What: Fenwick (4-0, 1-0 GCLC North) vs. Badin (4-0, 1-0 GCLC Central) at Hamilton, 7 p.m.
Where: Virgil Schwarm Stadium, 1165 Eaton Ave., Hamilton
Last meeting: Fenwick won 42-7 in 2014
The longest winning streak in Fenwick High School football history has a new challenger.
The Falcons are 4-0 this season and have won eight straight games, the No. 2 streak in the FHS record book.
No. 1 came in 1974 and 1975 and spanned 13 victories, the last 10 in 1974 (which led to the Class A state championship) and the first three in 1975.
It’s significant in terms of history, but certainly not to Fenwick coach Joe Snively as he prepares his Falcons for Friday’s road game against unbeaten Badin.
“We’ve got to keep everybody living in the moment,” Snively said. “I’m always real conservative and real nervous. I’m not going to tell you we’re state champions or anything like that. I’m going to tell you that we’re 4-0. That’s all. Out of the 10 games we’ve been promised, we’ve only played four.”
It’s a matchup of state-ranked Division IV squads — Badin is No. 3, Fenwick No. 5 — that has weighty implications in Region 14 and the Greater Catholic League Coed Division.
Badin/Hamilton Catholic leads the series 17-4, though the Falcons have won three of the last four meetings. The 2014 contest was a 42-7 Fenwick rout as Warren Kusneske racked up five touchdowns.
“Last year was awful,” Rams coach Bill Tenore said. “That was probably about as bad as things could go for the Rams on that night. But we don’t forget. Our guys will be ready. They’ve got something to prove.”
Both teams are relatively healthy.
For the Falcons, senior running back Andy Riazzi didn’t play in last week’s 24-0 blanking of Alter because of a knee injury, and Snively said he’s questionable at best for Friday’s game.
For Badin, senior free safety Jeff Beadle (shoulder) is expected to play after sitting out last week. The Rams likely will be without the services of junior tight end/defensive end Brian Gerbus, who hurt his knee at the end of a 73-yard touchdown catch in last Saturday’s 49-13 win over Roger Bacon.
Tenore said junior John Suedkamp will step in at defensive end, noting that junior David Berg is among the possibilities at tight end.
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